I want to assume this is good news unless and until it proves to be bull$hit.
"Has the department made a decision for three carriers in the Gulf? No. They haven't," Whitman said. "What Secretary Gates has said is still the current guidance with respect to the level of effort in the Centcom area of responsibility."
"There is an allocation plan for major assets like carriers, and the secretary would be involved in any decisions with respect to that," he said.
Defence officials later told reporters that the carrier USS Stennis is expected to have left the region by the time the Enterprise arrives, and that the new carrier will replace the USS Nimitz.
Further evidence, if this is true -
if - that my conjecture that the Fourth Branch of Government has lost its bid to attack Iran is correct.
